CHANDIGARH: Retired Indian Army Lieutenant General D S Hooda on Friday claimed that there was too much hype over the 2016 surgical strikes.

“I do think there was too much hype over it (surgical strike). The strike was important and we had to do it,” said Hooda while speaking at a panel discussion on ‘Role of Cross-Border Operations and Surgical Strikes’ on the first day of Military Literature Festival (MLF) 2018 in Chandigarh.

“Now how much should it have been politicised, whether it was right or wrong is something that should be asked to the politicians,” he added.

Hooda was the Northern Army commander when the surgical strikes were carried out on September 29, 2016, across the Line of Control (LoC) as a response to a terrorist attack in Uri earlier that month.

The retired Lieutenant General added that it was natural to have initial euphoria about the success but the constant ‘maintenance of hype around the military operations was’ unwarranted, the release said.

In hindsight, he added, it would have been better had we done it (surgical strikes) secretly.

“People should know the history and the literature associated with their country`s military. These kind of festivals are extremely important as the general public gets exposure to interact army and military, usually, their interaction is quite limited. You see, there is secrecy around the military. These are venues were civilians and army can interact and understand their viewpoints better,” said Hooda.